Last week, I received a text message stating: “U.S. Census Bureau needs your help to understand challenges in the current economy,” followed by a live link. With the Better Business Bureau sharing so many warnings of bogus texts and government agency impostors, this could easily be considered spam. But it turns out this one is an authentic message from the Census Bureau, which is using text messaging and email to gather quick responses to its Household Pulse Survey.
The survey was designed to gather information on household experiences during the coronavirus, and messages are being sent at random to collect data. The approach for the Household Pulse Survey is different than most Census Bureau surveys in that it is designed to provide gathered information in a very short-turnaround period to help gather aid where it’s most needed in the pandemic recovery.
The survey is not mandatory, but the information gathered could help both federal and state agencies in their continued efforts towards recovery planning. The message notifies you that you can respond with “stop” to opt out of text messages. Otherwise, if the Census Bureau has not received a response from you, you may receive up to three follow-up reminders.
With these texts being sent at random to households, it’s very likely imposters will attempt to send similar messages. Here’s two clues to help you identify the authentic messages versus a fake one:
– If you have been selected to participate in the Household Pulse Survey, you will receive an email from COVID.survey@census.gov or a text message from 39242* with a link to complete the survey.